A 55-year-old Dracut man Returns to court May 14 to face charges he allegedly raped a child with force on multiple occasions when he resided with her in Haverhill four years ago.
David F. Shanahan is being held without bail in the Essex County House of Correction. According to a Haverhill Police Department report and court documents, he allegedly inappropriately touched the child while his now-ex-wife was a work. His ex-wife is the child’s grandmother and legal guardian. WHAV is withholding the name of the grandmother due to the sensitive nature of the charges.
The grandmother reported the alleged rape Monday, Jan. 5, to Haverhill Police. The child was subsequently interviewed by Haverhill Police as well as by officials from the Essex County District Attorney’s office and others who are part of a multi-disciplinary team at the Essex County Child Advocacy Center in Lawrence.
The grandmother told police that over the last several years her granddaughter has become withdrawn, was secluding herself in her room and had begun having severe panic attacks. Initially, the grandmother said she thought her granddaughter’s change in behavior was due to the divorce proceedings. She also observed that when her granddaughter saw her ex-husband at the church they all attended, she became visibly upset and did not want to be near him or speak with him. However, she told police, she learned from her son that her granddaughter had confided to her step-father about inappropriate behavior last December.
According to the police report, the child alleged Shanahan touched her inappropriately, showed her pornography and walked around the house without pants on when the grandmother was not present over a period of about two years. The grandmother also found a video on her granddaughter’s phone, repeating the allegations.
In her interview with police, the child backed her grandmother’s report. She said the alleged abuse started when she was about 8 years old and the man told her she could not tell her grandmother about it because he would get in trouble. She added that at times her younger sister was also in the room with the man. On one occasion, the child told police, Shanahan handcuffed her, laid her on a bed and then acted inappropriately.
Shanahan was arraigned Friday, Feb. 20, in Haverhill District Court before Judge Cesar A. Archilla on eight felony charges of rape of a child with force, aggravated rape of a child with a 10-year age difference, indecent assault and battery of a child under 14, indecent exposure and showing obscene materials to a minor.